To compete in the category they identify with, intersex and transgender athletes must prove they do not have a physical advantage. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), each sports federation is responsible for setting its own rules.
Transgender and intersex athletes still face uncertainty in major sporting events, such as the Paris Olympics. The case of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is at the center of this debate.
This story was originally published at portal g1.
Khelif won her fight against italian Angela Carini on thursday (1st). Carini, who withdrew from the match after 46 seconds, explained that her decision had nothing to do with the controversy surrounding her opponent (details below).
Despite this, both boxers became targets of fake news, falsely claiming that Carini forfeited because her opponent was a transgender athlete.
In a statement, the IOC asserted that "everyone has the right to play sports without discrimination," adding that "both athletes have participated in international women's boxing competitions for many years" and labeling as "misleading" the claims questioning Khelif's legitimacy.
▶️ Imane Khelif is not transgender. Khelif identifies and has lived as a woman. According to Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), alleged tests conducted by the association showed the athlete has XY chromosomes (typically associated with males), classifying her as intersex. However, Khelif has never spoken publicly about this.
Intersex individuals are those born with hormonal variations that do not conform to medical norms for male or female bodies. Previously, the term "hermaphrodite" was used, which is both biologically incorrect and considered offensive.
Some intersex individuals have female genitalia but possess XY chromosomes and testosterone levels typically found in male bodies. This includes athletes like South African runner Caster Semenya, who was barred from competing in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Was Khelif eligible to compete?
There has never been an official statement confirming that Imane Khelif is intersex, yet she competed normally in the Olympics. Whether intersex athletes can participate depends on the regulations of each sport's governing body. The IBA, for instance, has stricter rules that would prevent athletes with XY chromosomes from competing in women's events. However, the IBA was banned by the IOC in 2023 (details here).
Trans and Intersex Athletes in the Olympics
The first transgender athlete to compete in the gender category they identify with was New Zealand's Laurel Hubbard in weightlifting at the Tokyo Olympics. That same year, Canada's women's soccer team included Quinn, an athlete permitted to continue competing in women's soccer after coming out as transgender and non-binary.
And in Paris?
▶️ Only two transgender athletes have qualified to compete in the Paris Olympics: Nikki Hiltz in track and field and Quinn in Canadian soccer.
▶️ Both Hiltz and Quinn are non-binary transgender individuals, meaning they do not fully identify with either male or female gender.
▶️ A transgender person is not necessarily someone who has transitioned from male to female or vice versa. Non-binary individuals are also considered transgender.
▶️ Quinn and Nikki were assigned female at birth and compete in the women's category, even though they do not identify with that gender.
Who Can Participate?
The IOC was consulted by g1 to clarify the rules for transgender and intersex athletes at the Paris Olympics. In 2021, the IOC issued guidelines (still in effect) with ten principles aimed at "promoting gender equality and inclusion."
Key points include:
Each sports federation is responsible for creating its own rules, which may vary by sport.
Athletes have the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Joanna Harper, a transgender woman, former athlete, and leading expert on the subject, told g1 that the document she helped draft is based on an objective criterion: testosterone levels in athletes' blood.
"Trans women had to reduce testosterone to a specific level and maintain it for 12 months before competing. This policy has been widely adopted by several sports federations," Harper explained.
⚠️ While testosterone levels have been adopted as a criterion by many federations, it remains controversial in the scientific community. Waleska Vigo, a researcher in gender and Olympic sports, highlighted how such testing could exclude intersex athletes.
"Some people have elevated testosterone but a mutation in its receptor that renders it ineffective in the body. Others may have high testosterone, but its effects are not evident in practice," said Vigo, a doctoral researcher at the University of São Paulo's School of Physical Education and Sports.
Vigo also recalled the case of former volleyball player Erika Coimbra, who failed a gender test at the 2000 Sydney Olympics due to a condition called "Morris Syndrome," which raises testosterone levels. At the time, Erika had to prove via her birth certificate that she was a cisgender woman.
📢 Understanding the Terms
Cisgender: People who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth based on biological sex.
Intersex: Individuals born with characteristics that do not fit medical norms for male or female bodies. These may involve chromosomes, genitalia, hormones, or other factors.
Transgender: People who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth based on biological sex.
Non-binary: People who do not fully identify with strictly male or female gender identities.
🏋️♂️ Do Trans Athletes Have an Advantage?
Joanna Harper noted that trans athletes may occasionally have physical advantages over cisgender athletes but also face "potential disadvantages" from hormone therapy and gender transition.
"Generally, trans women are taller and stronger than cis women, even with hormone therapy, but they also face potential disadvantages. Larger structures are now supported by reduced muscle mass and aerobic capacity, which can lead to disadvantages in speed, agility, and recovery," Harper explained.
For Harper, the sports world is full of examples where certain groups of athletes have advantages over others. "We allow left-handed athletes to compete against right-handed ones, even though left-handed athletes have advantages in many sports, for example."
Can a Category Be Created Just for Trans Athletes?
Harper explained why creating a separate category for trans athletes is not realistic.
"In team sports, it simply doesn't work. If you had a Brazilian transgender soccer team, you'd need to field 11 transgender players of the same sex at the same time. Even then, which other countries would you play against?"
Trans people represent approximately 1% of the global population. For Harper, the ideal scenario for trans inclusion in sports would reflect this proportion.
"If everything were equal, 1% of athletes in the women's category would be transgender. At the Olympics, that would mean about 50 trans athletes competing."
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